Period 9: Kasako-San is Coming
'Kasako-San Is Coming '''is the ninth chapter of the Zekkyou Gakkyuu series and 1st chapter in the volume 3 manga. Premise ''Miharu and Youko are the evenly matched sports superstars of their school. But during a particularly stressful time they are approached by the spirit Kasako-san, who gives them four days to find her missing umbrella or suffer the consequences. But what happens to friends who have a lot riding on their shoulders? '' Yomi's Introduction While admiring the rainy weather, Yomi greets everyone and recalls hearing the story of "''that girl". She asks if they know the story a well. Summary One rainy day in school, a group of girls are chatting about someone by the name of "Kasako-san". One girl asks if this is just a rip-off of the "Hanako-san" story, but she claims it's nothing like it- it's a story special to their district. If you go home alone on a rainy day you risk running into Kasako-san, a girl holding a red umbrella; which is actually her bloodied, severed arm. She asks the people she runs into to find her umbrella, but if you fail or refuse she will sever their arm and kill them. Suddenly, Youko and Miharu approach, with Miharu startling the group and chastising them for being lazy like this. Soon the rainy season will pass and they will need to get ready for the sports meet that will follow it. The girls are impressed with Miharu and Youko's serious attitudes towards sports -even at a time like this- and as they are chatting, Miharu thinks about her friendship with Youko and how they met back in fourth grade. They are close friends and rivals, due to being the sports stars of their school. But no matter what they compete in, neither of them win because they always tie. Arriving home, Miharu sits down to dinner and discusses how her day went. She mentions how well she did and how the teacher praised her, but her parents are more or less focused on the sports meet. Her mother tells her to beat Youko and come in first, and her father bluntly tells her to work harder and how second place means nothing. Unsure of what else to say, she hesitantly agrees. The following day a depressed Miharu leaves for school when she sees how rainy it is. This means she will be unable to go full out with training, and by now she isn't sure how she could possibly win at this rate. She is joined by Youko, who snaps her out of her thoughts just as a strange figure approaches them from the distance. The girls are shocked realizing it's Kasako-san, and just like the story they overheard, she tells them to find her umbrella. The panicked friends tell their classmates what happened after rushing to school, and initially they assume its only a joke until the girls show they have matching arm wounds from Kasako-san. After they mention being given four days to find the umbrella, an anxious girl suddenly pipes up to say she has an idea. She brings everyone to a computer and looks up information on Kasako-san, finding an article about her death in 1999 after being hit by a truck. She was out during a rainy day in search of her umbrella that bullies had taken from her and hid. In this time they manage to narrow down some possible search locations and everyone -including the less-than thrilled students- offer assistance to help search for it. However, days passed and nobody was able to find the umbrella. By the third day, the girls are left on their own, with the girl who helped them on the Computer, who explains how everyone else bailed due to their individual club activities. Miharu panics and mentally wonders how they could do this when their lives are at stake but they quickly resume search. Youko sees how upset she is by now and she attempts to calm her down by asking her what she would like to do after being saved from Kasako-san, and Miharu can barely keep herself together as she tells her of her desire to have everything return to normal again. She wants them to be able to focus on their upcoming sports meet and win, with Youko agreeing. Youko goes on to say that because of these feelings they need to focus on beating Kasako-san, which surprises Miharu since she isn't worrying about her own life like she has been this entire time. She admires Youko's strength and happily agrees. Unfortunately they couldn't find the umbrella, and soon the fourth day arrives. As Miharu prepares to leave, she is informed that her parents will be showing up to watch her practice on Sunday. They managed to book the city's stadium and the rain can't ruin her training there, but as they express support for her and tell her to do her best, Miharu struggles to respond with the thought of never returning again. She leaves upon finishing and meets up with Youko, and together the girls watch the rain pour down while noticing the time. Youko confesses that she had planned on telling her parents but because they were so focused on the sports meet, they didn't seem to care about anything else. Miharu is surprised knowing her parents are the same as hers, and they recall how they first met back in fourth grade when they had been chosen to run against each other for the 50m together. They were surprised to have gotten the same exact time and set the school record, and as they were calming down the girls introduced themselves to each other and became good friends. As they recall spending every day together since, both girls begin to cry. They wish things would return to how they were in the past, when sports weren't the only thing they had to focus on, and how they actually enjoyed them without the pressure of their parents. During their lament, Miharu suddenly spots the red umbrella in a nearby piles of trash some men are picking up. Quickly they rush over to ask about this and the men explain how they pick up garbage from schools- only to scold the girls as they try to locate the umbrella again. They are ignored and take off, just as Miharu manages to find the umbrella. As she pulls herself out from the pile of garbage, she checks to find Kasako-san's name on the handle, and she attempts to call for Youko to let her know she found it until something dons on her. She silences herself and thinks about what would happen if she didn't share the umbrella with Youko. She would end up vanishing- but if she did, then her parents would quit putting pressure on her. Without hesitation Miharu attempts to hide the umbrella until Youko happens to notice and approaches her to coldly ask what she is doing. Miharu refuses to say anything and her taller friend snatches the umbrella from her before reacting with mild amusement. She points out how alike they are, revealing that recently she had began to consider doing the same thing if she had found the umbrella first. They both have parents who stress them out, and now they no longer enjoy sports like they used to. It was their only option if they wanted to escape from this. As her words begin to sink in, Miharu recalls the prior event that caused her to come to this decision. Recently, she had been in the locker room bandaging her sore feet when she heard a few girls chatting about the sports meet. They wondered who would win and agreed it would probably be Youko, and soon there would be only one Sports Star at the school. Hearing Kasako-san approaching, the girls quickly start to fight each other for the umbrella as they realize neither of them is willing to share it. But in the process the umbrella falls over the nearby fence and onto the ground beneath it. They both make a mad dash for it and attempt to push each other away until Miharu -refusing to die as she remembers past memories of success- is filled with sudden adrenaline and shoves Youko hard enough to make her fall back, and she grabs the umbrella with no remorse. A year has passed since that day. One morning Miharu is preparing to leave for school and she overlooks the trophy she won from the sports meet. Her parents, who are nearby compliment her victory and she takes off. She recalls that day, when after she grabbed the umbrella, she turned to find found both Youko and Kasako-san gone. It's then Miharu notices that it's started to rain, much to her confusion due to how sudden it is. She isn't given long to think about it though, when she hears a familiar sound- but as she turns to look she doesn't see Kasako-san approach; but the blood-covered spirit of Youko, holding her severed arm. She asks Miharu for the umbrella. Yomi's Epilogue With her umbrella protecting her from the rain, Yomi mentions how things would have turned out if the girls had just thought about saving each other rather than themselves. But any human is likely to turn into a demon when put in a similar situation. She tells the reader to tread carefully if this moment should happen to them. Characters *Kasako-san *Youko Oota *Miharu Kurihara *Rui *Classmates Quotes Trivia Gallery Category:Manga Category:Chapters Category:Vol 3